For All the People:
the Liberal Plan of 1966

BRITAIN DEMANDS A NEW APPROACH

Eighteen months ago many people had high hopes that a change of
Government from Conservative to Labour would bring about a real
change in the country's fortunes. They had watched the country
drift from one economic crisis to another and seen how Britain's
rate of expansion and industrial growth had continued to fall
behind that of other countries.

Now events have shown that, for all their talk about modernisation,
Labour too cannot find the answer to our problems. However admirable
their intentions. they, like the Conservatives, have been unable
to implement workable solutions.

There are very simple reasons for this. Both parties have their
roots firmly in one section of the community or another. The Conservatives.
both ideologically and financially, are still tied to the interests
of capital. Equally Labour are tied to the interests of the Unions,
often to the detriment of both.

Is it surprising that their actions are seldom acceptable or effective
for the country as a whole?

Why are the Liberals different?Today, more than ever, the unique position of the Liberal
Party enables us to bring new thinking and a fresh, objective
approach to Britain's economic and social problems and to put
forward solutions that work. We can do this precisely because
we have no vested interest in protecting one group or another.
We are not a class party'. We draw our support from all groups
and classes and we are free to reconcile conflicting interests
for the benefit of the whole community. We are the party of all
individuals, no matter what their background.

What the Liberals have achieved.Already the three million votes polled at the last election
in support of Liberal attitudes and Liberal policies have acted
as a powerful brake and a positive influence on the policies of
the Labour Government. Indeed the Liberal Party has provided the
only effective opposition n curbing the wasteful excesses of Socialism
and compelling Labour to give priority to at least some of the
things that matter.

Steel Nationalisation was shelved as a result of Liberal
pressure and saved the country millions of pounds. Without that
pressure it could still happen.

Land Nationalisation was checked in response to Liberal
pressure. The nationalisation of small plots of building land
in private ownership has been dropped.

Pensions and Rates. Although Labour's plans do not go far
enough Liberal pressure has forced the Government to put these
issues before further nationalisation plans.

The Neglected Regions. For years Liberals have been calling
for action to revitalise the depressed areas of Britain. Even
the tentative moves now being made by Labour would not have been
made but for Liberal pressure.

The Highland Development Board. A clear example of a Liberal
proposal being implemented by Labour in response to pressure from
the Highland Liberal MPs.

A Really Positive Vote. The effectiveness of Liberal pressure
to date is only the beginning. An increased number of Liberal
MPs and an increased Liberal vote in each constituency will bring
about still more positive action in Parliament. And there is plenty
to be done.

The most vital need is for a fresh and realistic approach to economic
planning, defence and the machinery of government, because only
then will the wealth be created that can bring about a real improvement
in living standards, housing, education and the social services
for all the people of Britain.

The policies outlined show the positive action that is needed.
Consider them carefully and decide for yourself.

Three million people voted Liberal last time for what they knew
was right. The 10 Liberal MP's have done the work of 30 times
that many. Those votes have really counted. A higher vote. More
MPs. The same drive. And a Liberal Government will be near.

HOW TO CREATE THE WEALTH

BRITAIN MUST PAY HER WAY

Facing World Realities. Britain today has the slowest rate
of growth of any developed industrial economy. By 1980, if present
trends continue, the only countries in Western Europe with a lower
living standard will be Portugal and Spain. One reason for this
pitiful performance is the attempt to carry world responsibilities
far beyond our means.

In 1964 Britain's military spending overseas was £305 million,
accounting for over half the country's debt. Expenditure of this
kind hits us all.

The Labour Government is now trying to cut it down, but it has
failed to cut the basic commitments, which made us spend the money,
many of which are no longer realistic.

Britain is also still the centre of a world wide currency system.
Attempts to sustain the system have placed our economic policy
in a strait-jacket and added a further restriction on our growth.
In consequence we now have the largest debt in our history.

The Government must work for a radical reform of the world's financial
system, in which we shall pool our exchange reserves with those
of other Western powers and jointly assume responsibility for
managing a new reserve currency.

While illusions of military and economic grandeur must be dropped,
British industry needs the wider horizon of the Common Market.
British exports to Europe have suffered badly from our exclusion.
Waiting for something to turn up is not a policy. Britain must
declare now her intention to join the European Community.

Growth Comes First. The Labour Government has now set up
a Department of Economic Affairs, but real power over economic
policy still remains in the cautious hands of the Treasury. The
Department of Economic Affairs can only become a real driving
force for expansion if it has authority over short term as well
as long term planning. It should work in partnership with a new
Parliamentary standing committee on economic affairs in the formulation,
execution and continuous modification of a new national economic
plan.

Simplify the Tax System. The tax system must be overhauled
and simplified so that it encourages efficiency rather than evasion.
A standing committee of experts from industry, finance and Government
must be set up to fit successive budgetary measures into a sustained
programme of tax reform.

Cut Direct Taxation. Direct taxation must be systematically
cut and some of the burden shifted to inherited wealth and gifts.
Death duties should be replaced by a legacy duty, to encourage
the wider distribution of wealth.

Tax reliefs for industrial investment, even after the new grants,
are less than they were two years ago. They should be restored
to the previous level and increased as soon as possible to a level
comparable with that of other industrial countries. Office machinery
and services which earn foreign exchange should be allowed to
benefit from investment grants.

Bring Down Prices. All people, but particularly the old
and those living on fixed incomes, are hit by constantly rising
prices. Between 1951 and 1964 the value of the E dropped to 13s.
0d. Since the last Election the cost of living has risen by a
further 13s. 0d in the pound.

The effective way to bring down prices is to increase competition
by cutting tariffs. Because this would hit monopolies and price
rings it would increase efficiency, and prices would fall accordingly.
If necessary the maintenance of price rings and gross restrictive
practices should be made criminal offences.

A Positive Incomes Policy. An Incomes Policy is a necessary
aid, if we are to check inflation with a minimum of unemployment,
and achieve a fair distribution of the wealth we have, but to
succeed an incomes policy must emphasise the need for greater
productivity and efficiency before wages and incomes are increased.

In Western Germany reasonable price stability has been maintained,
with only 1 per cent unemployment (less than in Britain today),
thanks to planned immigration, generous redundancy arrangements
and systematic training to induce people to change jobs. In Britain,
an ambitious retraining programme is needed with payment of average
national earnings during retraining. Longer periods of notice
should be given to those who must change jobs. There must be a
greater expansion in management training and shorter and more
flexible apprenticeships.

Where there is direct confrontation with a large Union, Government
intervention by tariff cuts or taxes may sometimes be necessary
to prevent exorbitant wage increases in particular industries,
but we would prefer wage increases to be restricted voluntarily.
Labour's Prices and Incomes Bill can only undermine the confidence
of the Unions.

Government pressure should be exerted to create strong unions
covering whole industries and to rationalise the wage structure.
Bargaining at individual plant level, in which higher earnings
are negotiated in return for abandonment of restrictive practices,
must be encouraged.

PARTNERSHIP IN INDUSTRY PAYS

Getting both 'Sides' Together. Strikes, stoppages and demarcation
disputes are three major causes of Britain's failure to pay her
way. Too often they arise from class prejudices, the failure of
employer and employee to understand each other's problems and
the lack of any common purpose between them.

Each 'side's' distrust of the other's interests has led to inefficiency
and prevented any lasting solution being reached. The Liberal
Panty, bound by no such interests, is in a unique position to
bring the two 'sides' together and be accepted in doing so.

A 'Say'. The first step must be to give employees more
say in the running of the companies in which they work. Company
law must be amended to require the setting up of Works Councils
for regular consultation and negotiation between employee and
management on all major issues affecting their company.

A Stake. Employees must be given the same status as shareholders
and the consequent right to elect directors to the Board.

Management should be encouraged by tax incentives to increase
employee shareholding, because a financial stake is an important
part of a man's involvement with, and responsibility to, the company
for which he works.

Industrial efficiency depends on partnership not conflict. Our
proposals would bring about this partnership.

Contracts of Service. A standard contract of service should
be introduced covering the right to Union representation; an equal
range of security benefits for wage and salary earners; holiday
pay based on average earnings; a guaranteed opportunity for further
education and training in employer's time; and equal rates of
pay for men and women doing identical work. With such contracts
it would be easier to gain the acceptance of arbitration rather
than the immediate resort to industrial force and the contracts
could be enforceable in the civil courts.

Harness Technology. The establishment of the Ministry of
Technology has not led to the 'white hot scientific revolution'
promised by Labour before the last election. There have been small
increases in government financed support for the National Research
Development Corporation and for computers, but the machinery for
science and technology is much the same as it was under the Tories.

Among Liberal proposals are expansion of the Atomic Energy Programme,
reorganisation of the Council for Scientific Policy, with wider
terms of reference, better co-ordination of the Work and Research
Associations and full transferability of pensions for the Civil
Service so as to ensure mobility of scientific manpower.

EXPANSION IN FARMING PAYS

If you are a farmer or farm worker, today you can have little
cause for satisfaction with Conservative and Labour farming policies.
Both parties have allowed farming to drift The farmer's life is
hedged about with uncertainty. He never knows whether to expand
or contract. His workers often leave the land.

If you are a housewife, you too will have seen how this uncertainty
has brought fluctuations and increases in the prices of meat,
milk and dairy produce.

A few years ago only the Liberal Party recognised the need for
selective expansion in food production. We called for a system
of managed markets for home and imported produce under a Meat
and Grain Commission, and a system of agricultural support that
gave the farmer his return from the market rather than from subsidies,
and one that guaranteed reasonable prices to the housewife.

The other parties now favour agricultural expansion, but the Labour
proposals in the National Plan envisage a rate of growth in beef
and pork production slower than that of the last five years. Only
the dairy herd is set for expansion but the incentive to farmers
is insufficient.

We welcome Labour's tentative scheme for easier farm credit, but
we would extend it by a Land Banking system to help bona fide
small farmers and ex-farm workers to make their farms efficient
and modern.

Better Prices for Beef. If this country wants beef the
Government must recognise the need to pay substantially more to
the producer. Substantial price increases would in turn give the
producer a higher price for calves and enable marginal milk producers
to turn over to livestock. The confidence n expansion created
would remove the need to raise milk prices to the housewife.

Cereals Expansion. As long as subsidies remain at their
present level, there will be uncertainty for both Government and
farmer. With a managed cereal market the price could be gradually
raised until the subsidy is eliminated.

Cost. These price adjustments would be self-balancing.
The money saved on cereal subsidies and the levies collected on
imports would provide sufficient funds for the increase

n livestock prices. Introduced over a period of years, this new
system and increased technological investment in farming would
create for the farmer the firm prospect of expansion, a real increase
in income, and a decreasing dependence on imported produce.

BRING NEW LIFE TO THE NEGLECTED REGIONS

A National Physical Plan. For too many people there is
little incentive to stay in the area of their birth. Culturally
and financially the draw is toward the South East.

While Britain has a national plan for the economy, there is no
national physical plan to redress this balance. The drift to the
South East continues. Only in the Highlands, where the Liberals
swept the board at the last Election, has Labour, under pressure,
set up a Development Board with money and real powers.

There must be a national plan for the future redistribution of
population and development and the decentralisation of power and
wealth from London.

Scotland and Wales. Greater power to run their own affairs
must be given to the people of Scotland and Wales.

The Royal Commission on Scottish Local Government must be extended
to examine particularly the devolution of power from Whitehall
to Edinburgh with a view to establishing an elected Scottish Parliament.

A Council of Wales must be established and a Welsh Development
Agency set up to plan, to tend money and to promote new industries.

There must be broader regional tax advantages to stimulate development
in Northern Ireland.

Elected Regional Councils. Regional Councils nominated
by the Central Government give those who live in the regions neither
a say in their affairs nor a responsibility for them. Regional
councillors must be elected - and paid. This is not a part-time
job for amateurs.

Regional Councils throughout Britain must have full powers to
co-ordinate all the industrial and cultural development within
their regions. They must have their own financial resources and
power to borrow, especially for physical re-development.

Power to Plan. Regional Councils can only be effective
if they have the executive power to plan for their areas. They
should be responsible for the use of land, including new towns
and new industries, public transport and hospital building, water
supplies, regional resources and all facilities for leisure and
the arts.

An effective regional policy also demands the decentralisation
of Government offices and the nationalised industries, and the
appointment of Regional Officers with status equivalent to the
Civil Servant.

Reform Local Government. Our system of local government
badly needs to become a more effective instrument of the electors'
will. The aldermanic system in England and Wales should be abolished.
All trading arrangements by Councillors with their Council should
be disclosed in the minutes. The resources and functions of smaller
local authorities should be merged to ensure that effective people
are employed and efficient services provided at the most economic
price.

A RADICAL APPROACH TO TRANSPORT

Whether we are private motorists, farmers or industrialists, poor
road and rail communications affect us all, but particularly they
strike at the root of exports, regional development, prices and
agricultural expansion. Yet Britain's motorway network is smaller
than that built in Germany thirty years ago, and under the National
Plan investment in new roads gets a pitiful low priority.

A network of motorways can and must be constructed without throwing
an additional burden on the taxpayer. Those who use roads want
to see results. The new motorways should be Pay Roads. This would
mean a small charge to the user, but it would be more than balanced
by savings in fuel, delays, and wear and tear.

It would enable public loans to be raised, to build the roads
quickly, and would provide a communication system to galvanise
the economy.

British Rail's passenger and freight services must be rationalised,
co-ordinated, and streamlined to meet the real demands of the
customer.

In other countries, air shuttle services between cities are profitable.
Why not here? Our provincial airports must be modernised and the
number of inter-city services and airports increased as the regions
of Britain are developed.

NON-RACIALIST APPROACH TO IMMIGRATION

We believe that immigrant entry to this country should be regulated
by the availability of jobs or the possession of skills and not
fixed at an arbitrary figure bearing no relation to vacancies.

The problems connected with immigration have aroused tremendous
emotion. No one should minimise the social problems created. But
clearly anyone who reflects upon the work of doctors and nurses
in our hospitals, employees in our transport services, and many
other industries, will recognise the significant contribution
which immigrants are making to our society.

We appreciate that integration is not always easy and, in order
that the full contribution of the immigrant may be realised, more
steps must be taken at national and local level to provide facilities
for non-English speaking immigrants to improve their knowledge
of English and the British way of life. There must be a closer
co-ordination of action at national and local level to promote
racial harmony.

Above all the 'immigrant problem' is a problem of housing. Special
subsidies must be made available to Local Authorities in areas
of acute housing shortage.

DEFENCE COMMITMENTS MUST BE CUT

Too great a proportion of our national wealth is spent in pursuing
a world peacekeeping role that n many areas is no longer realistic
and that in any case is far beyond our financial resources to
fulfil effectively.

We appreciate Labour's wish to limit defence expenditure but they
envisage no equivalent cut in commitments as Mr. Mayhew has so
honestly pointed out.

Realistic Priorities. We reject the idea that Britain still
has an independent peacekeeping role East of Suez. The likelihood
of our being required to act independently, in the defence of
India and Pakistan for example, as the Tashkent Agreement demonstrates
grows more remote. We should cut our commitments East of Suez
accordingly.

Apart from a temporary obligation to Malaysia our role is as a
member of the United Nations and not as an independent peace-keeping
force. We must therefore plan today for a gradual reduction of
our bases in the Far East.

The Deterrent. Events have proved that only the Liberals
were sincerely opposed to Britain's possession of an independent
nuclear deterrent. Labour in office, despite all they said in
Opposition, have in fact committed us to a nuclear role for the
next 10 years. Thereby Labour have made their task of reducing
the arms bill more difficult and encouraged the spread of nuclear
weapons.

However, as we still have certain nuclear weapons under our control,
steps must be taken to place these weapons under international
control within the Western Alliance.

Select Committee on Defence. During the past 10 years millions
of the taxpayers' money have been wasted on unrealistic commitments
and abandoned prestige defence projects.

Never has the need for a Select Committee on Defence (quite apart
from the other Parliamentary reforms which Liberals advocate)
been made more obvious than when the Government issued their defence
review on February 22nd. Here were policies, which will virtually
affect the defence of the United Kingdom for the next decade,
which had never been discussed in Parliament or by Parliament
until the decisions had been taken and were irrevocable.

Our priority should be to ensure the security of the United Kingdom
by retaining an effective defence force in Western Europe, which,
by its very presence, will help to maintain our political influence
in that area.

By cutting our Far East commitments we shall be able to do this
and still bring defence expenditure into reasonable proportion.

Disarmament. We must call for a freeze in the development
of nuclear weapons, work to establish nuclear free zones; and
press for the admission of China to the UN and disarmament discussions.

MODERNISE THE MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT

The prestige and influence of Parliament has declined. While the
British electorate is often able to participate in the great formative
debates of American democracy on television, too often major issues
are discussed by Parliament only after the event.

The decline of Parliament must be arrested by radical reform of
its procedures. Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs, Defence,
Economics and Science and Technology must be set up so that Parliament
shares from the beginning in the formulation of policy. Television,
the medium of political debate, must be brought into the House
of Commons.

Streamline Administration. Labour has set up new Ministries,
but this has not led to quicker decisions or more efficient planning.
Indeed it has sometimes led to duplication and made problems worse.
Administration must be streamlined to give value for money. Economics.
Technology, and Social Security must each be the responsibility
of a single Minister. The Housing and Local Government Ministries
must be co-ordinated in a Ministry for Regional Planning and Development,
within which Housing and Transport would become subordinated departments.
Detailed planning would be decentralised to the Regional Councils.

The appointment of senior Ministers in charge of broad areas of
policy would make possible a smaller and more efficient cabinet,
comparable to Churchill's wartime machine.

Civil Service rules must be made more flexible to allow able people
to be brought in from outside. But the test must be ability not
political views. A small unit, set up by the Treasury, would ensure
that recruitment of outsiders is fair and taps the best brains.

Electoral Reform. The Electoral system must be reformed
to ensure that membership of the House of Commons represents more
accurately the will of the people. Through the Speaker's Conference
we shall continue to press for changes in the method of voting.
A system which allowed over three million voters only nine members
of Parliament and which made it possible for a party with less
than half the total vote to become the Government, is clearly
in need of a radical overhaul.

The changes we propose would ensure that every vote cast really
counted. and would dispel the present electoral apathy.

We shall press for votes for young people at 18. Today's youth
is responsible and should be treated as such. At present, until
they are 21 young people may not, without their parents' consent,
travel abroad or enter into any legal contract including a mortgage,
nor may they vote.

Full rights should be granted at 18.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR WAY OF LIFE

YOUR HOME AND YOUR RATES

Millions still live in slums or have no house of their own. Millions
more have homes without lavatories and running water.

To rid the country of slums and shortage and build sufficient
dwellings for all families to have their own homes, we must build
at least five million homes within the next 10 years.

This can be done if we tackle the real causes of the problem.

Industrialised Building Techniques. System builders' factories
run at a fraction of their capacity. Regional Planning Offices
must be set up to co-ordinate these resources, guide the housing
effort and speed the creation of housing consortia among Local
Authorities. Only from large scale housing schemes can the full
benefits of industrialised building be obtained. Building land
is available but too little use is made of it.

Labour's Land Commission will do nothing to correct this. It will
simply discourage owners from selling, and the badly devised levy
will make land still dearer.

Site value rating. which would collect rates on the value of land
instead of buildings, would encourage owners of vacant or underdeveloped
land to sell instead of holding on for a better market price.

Homes to Rent Help for Buyers. Much new housing must go
to cure the acute short age of homes to rent at reasonable prices.
Help from subsidies for Council Houses should be concentrated
on those who cannot afford to pay the full economic rent and on
Local Authorities with exceptional rehousing needs, particularly
in areas where there has been a large increase in the immigrant
population.

The Government must also encourage more capital to be invested
in cheap privately built homes for rent. Tax reliefs should be
given to landlords who build low rent houses, with rent controlled
at a level which gives them a reasonable but not exorbitant return.

The present pattern of tax relief for home buyers, which helps
a rich person taking out a mortgage and not those with little
money, should be reversed, possibly by a straight interest rate
subsidy, paid to the Building Societies on all mortgages up to
£4,000. A Government fund should back one hundred per cent
mortgages through Local Authorities and Building Societies.

Keeping the Rates Down. A complete change in the rate structure
is urgently needed. The proposed Liberal tax on land values would
spread the load and bring down the cost to the individual ratepayer.
The transfer to the Exchequer of a higher proportion of Education
and Road costs would reduce it further. The loss of income by
Local Authorities should be guaranteed by an annual Government
grant.

WHAT PRICE SECURITY AND HEALTH?

Security in old age, security in sickness, security in unemployment.
these are our responsibilities to each other. The great Liberal
concept of the Welfare State is threatened by its increasing failure
to match real needs.

A long term plan linking benefits firmly to the general increase
in national prosperity would ensure that all entitled to them
share n the growing national wealth.

Security in Retirement. Even after the 1965 increase in
pensions, many old people are still forced to live on National
Assistance and will be forced to still further as the cost of
living rises; pensions should be raised high enough to make it
unnecessary for them to ask for extra help. A reasonable level
for a married couple would be half the level of average national
earnings, rising accordingly.

These pensions should be paid to all old people, including those
registered before 1948, the earnings rule which prevents pensioners
from earning a little extra must be abolished.

Employees should be encouraged, through their unions and professional
associations, to supplement the State pension with occupational
schemes to a level not less than two-thirds of previous earnings;
and pension rights must be fully transferable. Liberals oppose
the idea of a monopolistic State Socialist Scheme.

At present an employee, as well as paying for his Insurance Stamp,
has to contribute with his employer to the State Graduated Pension
Scheme. The same money invested in a private insurance scheme
would yield him a much higher pension. He should have the right
to choose where he invests this extra money.

Security in Sickness and Unemployment. Sick pay and unemployment
benefits must be raised to a realistic level. Two thirds of previous
earnings should be the rule and full national average earnings
for those undergoing retraining for a new job.

Security for Wives, Widows and Children. The present system
of family allowances which mainly benefit the better off, should
be abolished. All children including the first should be eligible
under a new system of allowances, graded from approximately £1
to £3 according to age. A widow with dependent children should
receive from halt to two-thirds of her husband's previous earnings,
and others should receive sickness, unemployment or retraining
benefits like anyone else. The present tax system discriminates
against wives who, of necessity, have to stay at home, and it
should be re-examined.

How will it all be paid for? A closer partnership between
State and private industry will help to rationalise the present
wasteful contribution structure. A Social Security Tax, replacing
National Insurance stamps and levied on employer (two thirds)
and employee (one third) in proportion to the payroll would rationalise
it still further. The tax should be varied regionally to encourage
the creation of more jobs in areas of unemployment. Benefits on
this scale will not be cheap and will take time to achieve, but
would ensure maximum value for money contributed.

A Better Health Service. At present, unless you can afford
to pay privately. your chances of obtaining a hospital bed at
short notice are small. Even when you de you will find most of
our hospitals crippled by shortages of doctors, nurses and modern
facilities. And the same is true of dentists and GPs.

We must make better use of the qualified people we have by reforming
methods of payment and encouraging, not penalising. married women
who wish to return to work.

We must make the Service more efficient by co-ordinating the various
branches of health and welfare under Area Health Boards in which
the GP would play a vital part.

Funds must be made available to these Boards to provide better
facilities for dentists and GPs, to improve existing hospital
buildings, to build new hospitals and to provide new homes for
old people.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHILD'S CHANCES?

Although Conservative and Labour Governments have always expressed
a desire to increase educational opportunity, in times of financial
difficulty it is always education that they cut. Instead of setting
up a proper building research group for Universities in order
to bring down their costs, the Labour Government has simply imposed
a six months' stop on building for Further and Higher Education
thus throwing carefully phased plans into chaos.

We must get our plans and priorities right and then stick to them.
Liberals recognise that education is the most important investment
we can make.

Schools. Priority in school building must be given to bring
our slum primary schools, urban and rural, up to a decent standard
and to prepare for raising the school-leaving age. This means
more generous support for minor works; special grants for depressed
areas; and a willingness by Local Authorities to accept large
scale industrial building.

Eleven Plus. Liberals regard the abolition of all selection
at eleven plus not as a dogmatic principle, but as a necessary
and long overdue reform. We accept the need for detailed consultation
at local level and we realise that not every area in the country
can go 'fully comprehensive' immediately, nor do we regard the
'all-through, purpose-built eleven to nineteen comprehensive'
as necessarily the best solution. We are fighting for reform in
the interests of all the children, not in the interests of dogma
or special privilege.

Higher Education. We reject the Labour Government's long-term
aim of two separate systems, one autonomous under the University
Grants Committee and the other 'public' under the Local Authorities.
The links between Universities and other institutions of higher
education should be drawn closer together by exercising public
control through Regional Councils rather than the 160 different
Local Authorities.

If the teacher shortage is to be conquered, there must be new
methods of part-time training and re-training for teachers. n
this connection we regret the Government's failure in this Parliament
to establish the University of the Air, proposed originally by
the Liberals and promised in the last Labour Manifesto.

Teachers. All professional teachers should be professionally
trained and their salaries, working conditions and pensions improved.
This could be done if many sub-professional jobs in schools were
taken over by ancillary staff.

Cost. The necessary improvements in our education cannot
be made without expenditure of a higher proportion of the national
income. We would oppose any plan to abolish all individual fee-paying
schools although the role of the direct grant, grammar and independent
schools must be re-examined.

A WORLD WE CAN MAKE BETTER

Liberals support the search for controlled disarmament. Meanwhile
Britain must play her part in creating the conditions which will
make the arms race unnecessary.

Strengthen the United Nations. The United Nations must
be made to work. A permanent UN force is needed. Liberals want
Britain to contribute to it. Any British Government should support
the authority of the UN in settling disputes between States and
policing scenes of international violence.

Liberals recognise that Britain is a European power. We cannot
afford to carry responsibilities everywhere, and the East of Suez
policy, persisted in by Labour, is as dubious politically as it
is expensive militarily.

Join Europe. To play our part in Europe would not only
be of great economic benefit it would make us a pioneer in the
first supranational community where States have agreed to share
some of their sovereignty. Liberals want the Government to declare
its intention of joining the EEC at the earliest opportunity.

Once in Europe, Britain could be an effective Atlantic ally and
with our fellow Europeans we could hope to influence American
policy in places like Vietnam. Liberals believe in the late President
Kennedy's concept of the Atlantic partnership between the USA
and United Europe. Such a partnership would wield great power
for progress.

Hunger and Disease - the World's Great Enemies. Effective
aid to the hungry millions of Asia, Africa and Latin-America means
not only direct support but a co-operative effort by the rich
States in the expansion of trade to the developing countries,
through the reduction of tariffs and more credits and investment.

The Commonwealth. British aid is naturally largely directed
to the Commonwealth countries. Although the Commonwealth consists
of loosely linked and widely different nations it remains a valuable
association bridging the gap between races. It will lose that
value and the gap will widen if Britain compromises with racialism.

Rhodesia. The rebel regime in Rhodesia is not only defying
the Crown and imposing an increasingly oppressive dictatorship.
It is also poisoning race relations throughout Africa. Liberals
therefore recognise the necessity of continuing pressure until
the rebel regime can be replaced by an authority - representing
all Rhodesians, willing to work for eventual independence based
on majority rule and backed by effective British guarantees.

The challenges today are tough, but if they are met in Europe,
and in United Nations as in Rhodesia, Britain can play a great
part n the advance to peace.

CONCLUSION

NOW IT IS UP TO YOU

Liberals are guided by principle not by doctrine. We are not frightened
by change. We welcome it, provided that it is directed towards
the real priorities.

If Britain is going to continue to play a significant part in
the world there must be a radical change of attitude in Government.
We can provide this because we are free to plan for the best interest
of all individuals, not just for a few. And that means your
interests. We want to see positive action to create a closer
partnership between all sections of the community - State and
private enterprise, employer and employee, business and union
- Only we can bring about this partnership.

If you want to see positive actions based on Liberal ideas flourish,
you know what you must do. It is up to you.